Members of the U.S. Army Reserve’s 173rd Petroleum Operating Company had a tough job during the Vietnam War — maintaining a network of petroleum pipelines and hauling tankers of gasoline to remote bases in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam.
Beginning Friday at noon, members of the 173rd Petroleum Operating Reunion Group will be coming together at the Hampton Inn to relive old times 40 years after returning to the “world” — the veterans’ lingo for the world outside Vietnam.
Ray Nash, a member of the group, said the reunion will be a three-day affair.
“We’ll start it around lunch time Friday and wind it down around Sunday morning. We’ll have a Sunday morning road trip,” he said.
Nash said that as of Thursday, some 60 veterans of the 173rd had signed -up for the reunion.
Bill “Doc” Fryery of Louisville, formerly of Itta Bena, served as the company’s medic while in Vietnam.
“We don’t have a formal membership. Just people that were in the unit. Some went, some didn’t, some went to other units. We had three brothers, a pair of identical twins, we had people from all over the United States attached to us,” he said.
“When we left here, we barely knew each other. We got real close real quick, and we have stayed that way through the years,” Fryery said.
The unit was mobilized on May 13, 1968, just months after the Tet Offensive brought U.S. hopes of a quick victory in the war to an abrupt halt.
The unit served in Vietnam from September 1968 to August 1969.
The “lucky” 173rd’s Vietnam service had a notable history.
It was unlucky for being the only Mississippi National Guard or Army Reserve unit to be activated during the Vietnam War, which lasted from 1964-1973.
It was lucky in that it did not experience a single casualty while in Vietnam and came home early.
Some 30 years after it served in Vietnam, the unit received a Presidential Unit Citation for its service, Nash said.
For most of its time in Vietnam, the unit was under the command of the late Capt. John Looney, who later became a financial officer with Hickok Inc. of Greenwood.
Looney, who died in 2006, was well-regarded by the men who served under him, Fryery said.
Looney possessed the qualities of the character Sheriff Andy Taylor on the “The Andy Griffith Show,” Fryery said. He told his grandchildren in a letter to remember Looney’s leadership and impact on their lives as transmitted through him.
“He was mild-mannered, easy-going, highly effective and successful. Don’t forget Capt. Looney,” Fryery read, tearing up slightly toward the end.
“God intervened when he sent Capt. Looney with us as our commanding officer,” Fryery said.
Looney, interviewed by the Commonwealth in 2000, said transporting fuel in a war zone is a big job in a war zone. he said, that 90 percent of all supply tonnage by weight going into a typical war zone is fuel in one form or another.
Without fuel, “Nothing runs, no generators ‘gen,’ no airplanes fly, no choppers ‘chop.’” he said.
Nash said the unit wasn’t always tasked with handling petroleum.
“We got reorganized just like that. At the time, we had just one 2,000-gallon gas truck,” he said.
While pipelines were problematic, hauling 10,000 gallons of fuel in a tanker truck on open roads was more of a challenge, said veteran David Murphy of Carrollton.
“It was scary as hell. Especially when we had to go out to the A Shau Valley, to the fire bases and pump fuel into those balloons,” he said.
The valley was the scene of heavy fighting during the Vietnam War.
Often, Murphy said, “We’d go to a fire base and off load and the next time we’d go back, they’d be overrun.”
This weekend the surviving members of the 173rd will focus on the lifelong friendships that were made while serving overseas.
Of course, Fryery doesn’t need a reunion to look up old war buddies.
“When I’m in Greenwood, I’m going to stop and see someone. We’re brothers,” he said.
For more information on the 173rd reunion this weekend, call LaDonna Landers, reunion coordinator, at 453-4836 or 299-2800.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden@gwcommonwealth.com.
